Botanical classification/cultivar designation: Petunia hybrida cultivar Kirimaji Double Purple.
The present Invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Petunia plant, botanically known as Petunia hybrida, and hereinafter referred to by the name xe2x80x98Kirimaji Double Purplexe2x80x99.
The new Petunia is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventors in Tochigi, Japan. The objective of the breeding program is to create new double Petunia cultivars that have stronger growth and attractive flower coloration.
The new Petunia originated from a cross-pollination made by the Inventors in July, 1999, in Tochigi, Japan, of an unnamed proprietary selection of Petunia, not patented, as the female, or seed, parent with the Petunia cultivar Double Cascade Burgundy, not patented, as the male, or pollen, parent. The new Petunia was discovered and selected by the Inventors as a single flowering plant within the progeny of the stated cross-pollination grown in a controlled environment in Tochigi, Japan, in March, 1999. The selection of this plant was based on its strong plant growth habit and attractive flower coloration.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar by terminal cuttings taken in a controlled environment in Tochigi, Japan, since March, 1999, has shown that the unique features of this new Petunia are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.
Plants of the cultivar Kirimaji Double Purple have not been observed under all possible environmental conditions. The phenotype may vary somewhat with variations in environment such as temperature and light intensity without, however, any variance in genotype.
The following traits have been repeatedly observed and are determined to be the unique characteristics of xe2x80x98Kirimaji Double Purplexe2x80x99. These characteristics in combination distinguish xe2x80x98Kirimaji Double Purplexe2x80x99 as a new and distinct cultivar of Petunia:
1. Low mounding cascading to prostrate plant habit.
2. Freely branching growth habit.
3. Early and freely flowering habit.
4. Red purple-colored double flowers.
5. Good weather tolerance; tolerant to wind, rain, and low and high temperatures.
Plants of the new Petunia can be compared to plants of the female parent, the unnamed proprietary Petunia selection. In side-by-side comparisons conducted by the Inventors in Tochigi, Japan, plants of the new Petunia differed from plants of the female parent primarily in flower form and color as plants of the female parent had single flowers that were lighter purple in color.
Plants of the new Petunia can be compared to plants of the male parent, the cultivar Double Cascade Burgundy. In side-by-side comparisons conducted by the Inventors in Tochigi, Japan, plants of the new Petunia were not as upright and had slightly smaller flowers than plants of the cultivar Double Cascade Burgundy.
Plants of the new cultivar can be compared to plants of the cultivar Doubloon Pink, not patented. In side-by-side comparisons conducted by the Inventors in Tochigi, Japan, plants of the new Petunia differed from plants of the cultivar Doubloon Pink in the following characteristics:
1. Plants of the new Petunia had slightly smaller flowers than plants of the cultivar Doubloon Pink.
2. Flower color of plants of the new Petunia was red purple whereas flower color of plants of the cultivar Doubloon Pink was dark pink.
3. Flowers of plants of the new Petunia were more double in form than flowers of plants of the cultivar Doubloon Pink.